Fighting for prisoner justice

ALBANY, N.Y.--"Mass incarceration is a symptom of a society at war with itself." So said Naomi Jaffee, opening the first-ever New York State Prisoner Justice Conference at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, March 27.

The conference brought together some 200 activists--the full capacity of the space--representing some 58 groups from across New York committed to fighting various aspects of the criminal justice system.

The conference was the product of months of hard work by organizers from around the state, involving weekly conference calls, and even a tour by the Albany-based initiators to points around New York state in order to get input and build support for a conference that could create a space for collaboration around the fight against the prison system.

Participants came from cities across the state, including Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City, Rochester and elsewhere. The groups represented a broad spectrum in terms of their approaches to the system, ranging from activist groups like the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, to arts groups like Harlem's Grassroots Artists MovEent (GAME), family support groups like the Osbourne Association, and legal organizations like the Legal Aid Society and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Other organizations took up the issues of sexual assault, parole reform and the needs of people with psychiatric disabilities. Racism against African Americans was a major concern of participants given the prison system's massive impact on communities of color, and advocates for the rights of immigrants, Arabs and Muslims, and LGBTQ people were also represented.

A "Draft Statement of Principles and Purpose" prepared by organizers and presented to participants for input pointed out that New York state alone has more people behind bars--some 90,000--than most countries.

"Mass incarceration, and the climate of fear-mongering that feeds it, create an atmosphere of vengeance, paranoia, racism and scapegoating that poisons the social culture and harms everyone," read the statement, which also calls for money currently invested in prison to be invested in communities, and for the creation of a "network" of groups that would support each other in struggles that advanced towards this goal.

The day was divided into two workshop sections, where conference participants discussed commonalities and differences in their approaches. Each of these was followed by a "report back," where facilitators summarized the discussion for the full conference.

Some points of agreement that recurred were the systematic nature of the problem with the prison-industrial complex, and the challenges of misinformation and public misperceptions about incarcerated people. Differences included a debate between groups that argue for prison abolition--the vision of a world without prisons--as a central point for the movement, and groups with more limited goals, as well as the rift between Upstate and Downstate communities in New York state.

The final, full-conference session was dedicated to attempting to generalize from these discussions. Conversation focused on the need for unity within the movement in the face of the overwhelming forces arrayed on the other side and the indifference of politicians. One participant, a former prisoner and new prison reform activist, summed up this sentiment, echoed by many participants: "We have to find a way to all our muscle in one arm."

Unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve the goal of uniting all participating groups around a common program in the space of a single conference. However, most involved in the first New York State Prisoner Justice Conference agreed that it was the beginning of an exciting new discussion, and that the initiative would continue, while sub-committees within the network will work on various tasks.

Organizer Victorio Reyes of the Social Justice Center of Albany summed up the sense of urgency behind the conference during a closing press conference: "The criminal justice system is possibly the most discriminatory institution in the nation," Reyes said. "And it is time to bring the fight to the appropriate battleground."